Paleo “Latte” Recipe

06th October 2016

First things first, I do not endorse drinking coffee or espresso every day, especially not in large quantities. According to Julia Ross in her book, The Mood Cure“caffeine inhibits the brain’s levels of antidepressant serotonin and sleep-inducing melatonin. It also depletes some of our most mood-vital nutrients: the B vitamins, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and zinc. It also overstimulates and weakens the kidneys, pancreas, liver, stomach, intestines, heart, nervous system and adrenal glands.”

With this in mind, coffee and espresso can be healthful in small amounts, which is why I keep my serving sizes at 8 oz for coffee and 3 oz for espresso. Keep this in mind next time you order a Venti at Starbucks which is 20 ounces of coffee! I reserve drinking my lattes for Sunday mornings in bed and one other time per week when maybe I didn’t get enough sleep. When I do drink espresso, I try to add as much nutrient density as possible! This recipe is a dairy-free, paleo-approved, ketogenic latte that feels more like a meal! I am full for hours after drinking my Paleo Latte and usually skip breakfast all together.

Here is why my Paleo Latte is healthier than drinking coffee/espresso with cream and sugar:

1. Coconut oil is one of the healthiest saturated fats you can eat for so many reasons! Coconut oil is made up of mostly medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) that go straight to the liver from the digestive track and can be used as a quick energy source. MCTs have also been shown to increase calorie burn over 24 hours by as much as 5%! (1)

2. Pasture-raised butter is high in fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K2, trace minerals, and CLA which helps build muscle rather than store fat. It is has the perfect balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fats. (2)

4. Collagen is a nutrient missing in todays foods because we stopped eating the whole animal! Unless you want to eat all the tendons, ligaments, and other organs of the animals you eat, you will need to add collagen to your diet by drinking pastured bone broth or adding powdered collagen to your meals. Collagen is wonderful for digestion, bone and joint health, glowing skin, and hormone balance. (4)

5. Coconut milk is healthy and nutritious for many of the same reasons that coconut oil is, but it is very difficult to find “clean” coconut milk in the stores. So I order Aroy-D brand from Amazon because the only ingredient is coconut milk, and it is packaged in cardboard so there is no worries about BPA from the canning process. Next time you are at the store, read the labels for coconut milk, you will find things like locust bean gum and guar gum which can pose a problem for people with gut issues like me. (5)

*If you must have sweetener in your coffee, please add up to 1 tbsp of 100% pure maple syrup (a big no-no if you are on a ketogenic diet).

DIRECTIONS:

Put all ingredients except espresso in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the espresso in slowly from the top. Enjoy!

Note: If you are worried about getting Salmonella from raw eggs, don’t, it’s extremely rare. According to Dr. Mercola, raw egg yolks are extremely nutrient dense and the fact that they are uncooked means that all of their fat-soluble nutrients are in tact. Plus, most infected hens are conventionally raised, cage-free eggs. (By the way, cage free is a joke…this usually means they are stuffed into large barns instead of cages but do not have access to outdoors & are fed toxic grains.) The organic, pasture-raised, free roaming chickens have far less incidents of salmonella.

I would like to thank the Keto Diet Blog for the inspiration for this recipe! They have a great recipe on this website for Keto Coffee, but I tweaked it to fit my nutritional lifestyle. They use coffee instead of espresso so feel free to click on the link above and follow their recipe if you prefer coffee to espresso. I just love espresso and needed to make this one my own.